CeBIT 2003. Just Another Annual Show or Hi-Tech Showcase for Professionals?

Many of our readers were probably staying tuned with our news from CeBIT
2003. But it wasn't possible to cover all even only hottest news. One of
my colleagues there said that it was a too big showcase for such a small
town. This is so indeed. Hannover is a rather small town and unable to
house all people willing to take part in this event. Some of my friends
had to get there from Hamburg every day which is located 130 km away. In
this article you can read the news we have already covered before and a
lot of new interesting things left aside in those hot and mad days.

I hope this review will give you a thorough idea of what happened at CeBIT
if you had no opportunity to look through our daily news. But even if you
kept track of them, you will find a lot of other curious information.

Hewlett Packard: report from the press conference
and new solutions displayed at the company's booth

As I mentioned last year, the booths are getting less in number. This
year the showcase shrank even more. The number of exhibitors fell by 11%
and amounted to 6526 companies. In 2002 there was 7962 firms against 8093
in 2001. The exhibition area has reduced by over 12%. According to Deutsche
Messe AG, it attracted less visitors by 10%. Nevertheless, the number of
foreigners has grown by 3% and resulted to 27%.

In my opinion, the display is getting more professional. People come
to CeBIT to find new business partners instead of enjoying a colorful show.
Is that good or bad? I guess, it's good. If the IT industry doesn't move
ahead, users would hardly get any fascinating events which are usually
followed by development of new solutions and technologies.